BAY CITY, MI — Members of the Bay City Commission voted to approve a $33 million water and sewer budget that will increase water rates by about $3.77 each month.

The City Commission voted 8-0 to approve the water rate increase; sewer rates will remain stable. Commissioner Jim Irving, 5th Ward, wasn't present, but was excused from a special meeting to approve the budget on Monday, June 30. Commissioner Chad Sibley, 8th Ward, was 30 minutes late to the meeting.

A customer's monthly service charge is increasing from $9 to $12 and the cost per CCF, which is 100 cubic feet of water, or about 748 gallons, is going up 11-cents. The average consumer uses about 7 CCFs per month, according to city officials. That works out to about a 12 percent increase total.

One resident, Charles Congdon, spoke out against the rates during public comment of Monday's meeting.

"When I look at this vicious cycle of water rates and water usage, I see a direction in a place where we don't want to be," he said. "Water usage is down — this has been going on for years. So, with usage down, we need to raise the rates? That doesn't encourage people to use more water.

"My wife says, don't water the grass, it's too expensive. We need to lower the water rates."

Bay City Mayor Christopher J. Shannon

Mayor Christopher Shannon said the city will keep the water rate low and not create a punitive environment for use.

"That's what (Congdon's) concept is all about," he said. "If you keep that rate lower, then people will want to water their garden and wash their car.

"But the piece of the hybrid that balances things is out is readiness to surcharge. That's a difficult concept for people to grasp. It's to pay the debt service on the system that has been built and provide for some of the costs associated with the maintenance of that system."

It's unclear what will happen with water rates when the new, $56.9 million Bay Area Water Treatment Plant goes online next year. The new plant will treat water from a Lake Huron intake near Au Gres, as opposed to the Saginaw Bay. Officials have said the switch will improve water quality.

It will also convert the city from a water provider to a water purchaser.

"The biggest cost factor for us is the cost of buying water from the county and the city won't control that price," Bay City Manager Rick Finn had said earlier this month.

Monday marks the end of the current fiscal year for the city. The City Commission approved a $112 million general fund budget June 16. That budge asked all city department heads to reduce operating expenses by 5 percent in order to pass a balanced budget that adds new programs, pads retirement costs and doesn't dip into the city's reserve fund.